One Jesus, Many Christs : How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity, but Many - Softcover

Riley, Gregory J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0800632427 ISBN 13: 9780800632427

Publisher: Fortress Press, 2000

Synopsis

In this exciting volume, Riley reveals that from the beginning there was not just one true Christianity, but many different Christianities. United by passionate allegiance to Jesus as Hero, these early, doctrinally diverse Christianities have led to the development of many different kinds of Christian churches among us today. Riley shows that early Christianity harbored major doctrinal differences about all aspects of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and divinity. This book provides not only a whole new understanding of the nature of earliest Christianity, but it also conveys a vital message for today about what Christian faith is really about. Riley reveals the authentic character of Christianity as inherently pluralistic and tolerant of diverse ideas while passionately centered in Jesus.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

In One Jesus, Many Christs Gregory Riley reveals that there was not just one true Christianity, but many different Christianities from the very beginning. United by passionate allegiance to Jesus as hero, these early, doctrinally diverse Christianities have led to the development of many different kinds of Christian churches among us today. Riley shows that early Christianity harbored major doctrinal differences about all aspects of Jesus' life, death, resurrection and divinity.

An expert on the historical context in which Christianity arose, Riley illuminates the Greco-Roman world of the early Christians, a world steeped in heroic ideals. Jesus was embraced as a new and compelling hero that one could follow into a whole new life of caring community and transcendent hope. Riley boldly asserts that it was only as Christianity became the religion of the empire that the myth of the Apostles' Creed was created, thereby promulgating the illusion that the Apostles had gathered together and agreed upon a core set of doctrines essential to the Christian faith. But the reality is that doctrinal orthodoxy was not an issue for the early Christians. Rather, they focused, in quite varied ways, on following Jesus as a model for living.

This book not only provides a whole new understanding of the nature of earliest Christianity, but it also conveys a vital message for today about what Christian faith is really about. Riley reveals the authentic character of Christianity as inherently pluralistic and tolerant of diverse ideas while passionately centered in Jesus.

From the Back Cover

"In this clearly and elegantly written book, Gregory Riley draws on his deep and detailed knowledge of ancient Indo-European and Semitic cultures, and especially the epic traditions of the paradigmatic hero, in presenting an original and compelling interpretation of the ancient testimonies to the story of Jesus and the role of these testimonies in the spread of the Christian religion in the Roman Empire." (Birger A. Pearson, professor emeritus of religious studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, editor of The Future of Early Christianity)

Edition details

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0800632427
• ISBN 13: 9780800632427
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240